by Karen Kelley
She slowly let out her breath. Off the hook for now. But still, something was going on.
“I know that look, and believe me, it doesn’t mean ‘nothing.’ You have something up your sleeve, so pull it out.” She took a doughnut from the box and bit into it. Delicious. They had the best bakery in Garvey County.
“I’m going to work for Winnie.”
Selena choked. “You’re what?” She hurried on before her mother could say anything else. “You can’t go to work for Winnie. Have you both lost your minds? Trent will have a heart attack.”
Winnie straightened. “I’m still his mother, and I won’t allow him to have a heart attack. Besides, I like Angela. We suit. My assistant gave her notice—she’s going back to college—and I’ll need some help.”
“Antiques.” Angela’s face glowed. “You know how I love antiques.”
“Fine,” she said after taking a drink of coffee to wash down the doughnut that hung in her throat. What the hell were they doing? “Trent is really going to love this.”
Footsteps came toward the kitchen.
Speak of the devil.
“We don’t plan to tell him just yet,” Winnie frantically whispered as her bravado of only a moment ago disappeared. “We’ll ease him into it.”
“Cowards,” Selena mumbled, but stopped herself from saying anything more when she noted Winnie looked a little green around the gills.
“Good morning, ladies,” Trent said as he strolled into the kitchen.
Winnie shot a warning look at Selena. “Good morning.”
Angela hesitated, then smiled. “Good morning, Trent.”
Her mother was smiling at Trent. Amazing. Winnie must’ve made one hell of an impression on her mother. Angela was actually being civil.
Selena shook her head as she looked from one mother to the other. Angela would call this fate. Maybe it was. Who could really say for sure?
Trent poured a cup of coffee and took a drink. “Tastes wonderful.”
Angela’s smile widened. “Thank you. I made it.”
He ambled over to the box of doughnuts, but paused with his hand above it. “Do you mind?”
“Oh, no, help yourself.” Angela eased the box closer.
Oh, give me a break.
Her mother was trying to butter him up. Angela’s love for antiques was as strong as Selena’s, but Angela had no real head for business. This would be a wonderful opportunity to have the best of both worlds.
“I didn’t think you liked doughnuts for breakfast,” Winnie commented with raised eyebrows.
“I found that I enjoy something sweet first thing in the morning.”
Selena could feel the heat rising to her face. He’d looked at her from the corner of his eye, and she instinctively knew he wasn’t talking about the doughnut.
His meaning was loud and clear.
She wanted to crawl under the table. Fan herself with her hand. Jump his bones. Okay, maybe not jump his bones with her mother sitting across from her. She’d have to jump them later.
Thankfully, neither Winnie nor her mother found anything suspicious in his words.
He bit into the doughnut and chewed. “These are great.” He finished, then sucked the chocolate off each finger before he washed it all down with a drink of coffee. “Now, do either one of you ladies want to tell me exactly what brings you here this morning?”
His mother’s cheeks turned a rosy shade of red. “We didn’t come in the same car. It was purely by... accident that we arrived at almost the same time.”
Yeah, their excuse was pretty thin. From the looks they’d been casting at each other, it wasn’t hard to see that something was going on. She just wondered how long before they’d spill the beans.
“You’ve been suspicious since that woman tried to steal our money. That was so long ago. Why can’t you let it go?” Winnie asked.
He leaned a hip against the counter and took another drink of his coffee, but Selena watched him and saw how his jaw twitched. Not a good sign. Her gaze moved back to Winnie, who had suddenly become interested in her coffee.
“I made a mistake once. I vowed it wouldn’t happen again, and it hasn’t.” He didn’t meet their gazes, but focused on the cup of coffee he held.
“But at what price?” his mother asked softly.
“How’s business at the store?” He changed the subject.
Winnie opened her mouth, then apparently thought better. “Business is quite good.”
Winnie squared her shoulders, and Selena had a bad feeling that she wasn’t going to ease Trent into anything. Darn, why had she scooted into the corner? No escape route.
“Jillian is quitting. She’s going back to college. I’ve hired someone to take her place, though.”
Trent relaxed, apparently feeling he was in safer waters. Selena wanted to warn him, but instead looked into her empty coffee cup, wishing she’d had tea instead.
As if she really needed to read leaves to know what was about to happen. She sighed. She couldn’t stop Winnie from saying anything, so she might as well just brace herself for the impending storm. Trent’s mother could be just as stubborn as her son.
“Who?” he casually asked.
Winnie smiled sweetly.
Oh, no, here it comes.
“Why, Angela. She loves antiques.”
Selena watched the changing expressions on her mother’s face. A little bit of worry, then that same stubborn streak that she saw in Winnie. Lord help them, they were two of a kind.
“Yes, I was quite pleased when Winnie asked me if I would like to work for her. We have so much in common.”
Trent choked on his coffee.
Winnie’s forehead creased. “Are you okay, Trent?”
“Okay? Am I okay? You actually have to ask if I’m okay?”
“It’s my store and I can hire whomever I please.”
“Mom... ”
“Now, don’t you Mom me, young man. Is it my store or not?” She clasped her hands in front of her and clamped her lips together.
“Yes, but... ”
“Then I believe you should let me tend to my business and you can see to yours, but let me tell you this, my great-uncle Abner came to me one time in a dream. It was right after he died.”
“Really?” Angela asked, her eyes widening.
“Mother,” Selena whispered, not wanting Angela to get involved.
“What, dear?”
“Shh... ” Couldn’t she see that Trent and his mother had come to an important crossroads?
“You saw your uncle Abner after he died?” Trent said, ignoring everyone except his mother, his frown deepening.
“Yes, he went to the store to get some crackers for Aunt Lucille and was hit by a car.”
“Oh, I’m so sorry,” Angela said. “Did he die quickly?”
“He was in the hospital for a good week.” Winnie shook her head. “It was just awful. I was a girl at the time, but I still remember it.”
“So he died a week after the accident?” Selena asked, suddenly curious.
“Oh, no, it was some twenty years later.”
Selena bit the insides of her cheeks.
“Then what does the accident have to do with anything?” Trent set his cup down and ran a hand through his hair.
“Why, everything, dear.” Winnie’s eyes grew wide.
“Tell us.” Angela patted Winnie’s hand before frowning at Trent.
“Well,” Winnie began, only to stop and draw in a deep breath. “It was just like I said. He came to me in a dream. He was wearing a nice gray suit.” She frowned. “Funny thing is he was buried in a black one as I recall. Although, it could’ve been a deep blue. I was awfully young... ”
“Mother!” Trent’s face had started to turn red.
Selena quickly looked at her hands. No wonder her mother had wanted to go to work for Winnie, even though she didn’t need the money. Winnie was quite infectious.
“I’m getting there, son.” She reached for a doughnut
, then apparently thought better of trying to eat and talk at the same time. “Well, he looked very happy about crossing over to this other place. He was smiling.”
“That’s it?” Trent wore a look of exasperation.
“Of course that’s not all.”
“Take your time, Winnie.” Angela’s eyes narrowed on Trent.
“The morning after the funeral, I woke up, and there was Uncle Abner’s watch on my bedside table.”
“Oh, my,” Angela breathed.
“What the hell does that have to do with the wreck?”
Trent’s expression grew darker by the second. Selena didn’t know who she felt more sorry for—Trent or Winnie.
“Why, it has everything to do with Uncle Abner. He’d always promised me the watch, but it had accidentally gotten buried with him. I was so devastated.”
“And rightly so,” Angela said.
“How do you know it was the same watch?”
Winnie looked quite smug. “Because it was cracked! The exact same crack where it had been busted in the car wreck. The exact same watch that had been buried with him.”
Angela sucked wind.
“Good Lord, Mother. You actually believe in that crap? Selena’s mother has been filling your head with a lot of nonsense. The woman is wacky. I mean, look at her.”
Wacky! Did he just say her mother was wacky?
“She is not, and don’t you dare take that tone of voice with me, Trent Sanders.”
“Okay, then, what the hell does that have to do with hiring Selena’s mother?”
“Angela and I are soul sisters. We sensed it from the very moment we met.”
“Yeah, right after she convinced you. Mom, that’s how cons work. They make you think you’re friends.”
Now her mother was a con! “You just wait a minute.” Selena came to her feet, planting her hands on her hips. “Don’t you dare blame my mother for all this.”
Winnie stood. “Don’t worry, Selena. My son is as stubborn as the day is long. Come, Angela, it’s time we opened the store.”
“Mom... ” Trent began.
Winnie raised her hand. “No, I won’t let you ruin the rest of my day with your foolishness.”
“Okay, fine.”
As soon as they left the room, he turned to Selena.
“Can you believe my mother?” He walked over to her and wrapped his arms around her.
“Remove your arms,” she said between gritted teeth.
“What did I do?” He stepped back.
“What did you do? You talked like their becoming friends was my mother’s fault.”
“You don’t think your mother’s trying to get close to mine in an attempt to help you?”
Oh, that was it. The straw that broke the camel’s back, the icing on the cake... “Trent Sanders, you’re an ass. You can’t see that someone like my mother could be friends with your mother.”
“My mother is gullible.” He glared at her.
“Your mother has a brain, and she can think for herself. Maybe you’re the gullible one. Maybe you need to look around and see the world as it is.”
She turned and left the room before he could say another word. She was so going to make him grovel when Dixie and Wesley showed themselves!
Damn it, how could the morning start off so well and turn to utter crap. And now she wasn’t even going to have sex. Double damn!
Chapter 20
Trent wondered how one morning could start off so well only to slide down the drain like dirty water.
Damn it, he wasn’t even going to have sex. He’d thought about mentioning to Selena that they’d both been gung-ho to do a repeat performance of last night, but from the expression on her face, he didn’t think that reminding her would be such a good idea.
Selena knew how he felt, so what the hell was different? Maybe he shouldn’t have called her mother wacky.
Even if she was wacky.
Damn, and now his mother had hired Angela to work in her store. If that wasn’t a scheme to undermine him, then he didn’t know what was. Why couldn’t his mother see what was going on?
He poured another cup of coffee and headed toward the porch.
Trouble was, the more he was around Selena, the less he thought she might be scamming to make money off innocent people. Maybe that was what rubbed him wrong more than anything.
He started to sit in one of the rockers, but at the last minute changed his mind and sat on the rail, leaning back against the post.
If she wasn’t scamming the public, then it meant she really believed in ghosts.
She was crazy.
Oh, great, it was much better to think about her that way. He was having sex with someone who thought she could talk to dead people. Much better situation.
“I see you made it through the storm last night,” Matilda said, startling him so that he almost spilled his coffee.
He set his cup on the rail. “Morning, Matilda. You and Hiram make it okay?”
“Downed a limb in the back but other than that we’re fine and dandy.”
She wiped her hands on her apron and took in a deep breath and looked around. She bent and brushed the petals of a dainty blue flower.
“Isn’t it odd how something so fragile could weather the storm and look all fresh and pretty the next day? Makes you wonder how it survived.” She looked up with a smile on her face. “There are lots of things in this world that a person can’t explain. You just have to open your eyes and accept.”
She’d been talking to Selena again. “I don’t believe in ghosts if that’s the point you’re trying to get across. Sorry.” And he realized he was apologetic. Maybe Matilda had hoped to convince him, but no matter what happened between him and Selena, he would never believe in ghosts. It just wasn’t going to happen.
“How long have you and Hiram lived here?” Rather than get into an argument with her about whether ghosts existed or not, Trent changed the subject.
Matilda placed her hands on her ample hips and looked around. “Hiram and I have lived here for as long as I can remember. Lot of changes been made since we first came to the area. Some good and some not so good.”
She suddenly laughed.
“You know, Hiram rode up to my daddy’s house one day on his horse. We knew each other from church socials and what not. He just up and asked me if I wanted to marry him.”
She must be older than she looked. He knew it wasn’t unheard of that a country boy wouldn’t have a car, and a lot of the World War II generation married really young.
“I guess you said yes.”
There was a mischievous twinkle in her eyes. “Not right off. I made him wait a few days before I told him I’d be his bride. I never regretted a day we’ve been together, though. He’s been a good husband.”
“I’m glad for you both.”
“Once you find the woman you were meant to be with, you’ll know it, too. Won’t matter what she does or what she believes in, either. Not when she’s your soul mate. A soul mate can weather any storm and the love lasts forever.”
Great, now she was matchmaking. He didn’t know which was worse, trying to make him believe in ghosts or getting him hitched to Selena.
“I best be getting back to Hiram. He doesn’t like me to be away from him for very long.”
“It was nice talking with you.” And he meant it. He enjoyed his visits with Matilda.
She turned before going around the corner of the hotel. “You and that girl spoon last night?”
“I... uh... ” He could feel the heat rise up his face.
“You make an honest woman of her. Don’t want to ruin her reputation.” Her gaze lingered. “Yep, you’ll make it right. You wouldn’t do nothin’ to hurt that gal. I can see in your eyes that you’re a good fella.” She turned and disappeared around the side of the hotel.
“An honest woman? I’m not sure Selena would ever be that even if she were married,” he mumbled.
His cell phone rang. He brought it out of his
pocket and flipped it open. Not Tye. Ken, his agent.
“Hello, Ken.”
“How’s it going? Not too bad, I hope.”
He laughed, and for the first time Trent realized just how much Ken’s laugh irritated him. Maybe it always had, but Ken had a good head for business, and he’d gotten Trent some decent contracts.
“It’s okay. If you can call staying in a run-down hotel good.”
“I saw this Selena’s picture in the paper. Now, that’s someone I wouldn’t mind crawling between the sheets with.”
For some reason Ken’s words left a bad taste in his mouth, but before he could tell his agent to take a flying leap off the nearest cliff, Ken continued.
“And after reading that article, it looks like you haven’t wasted much time, either.”
Trent took a slow breath and then let it out. “You handle my business affairs, but what goes on in my personal life is none of your concern.”
“Hey, don’t get me wrong. The publicity has been great. If you can add sex to the book you’re writing, it’s going to fly off the shelves. Oh, man, I can see it now. Selena the psychic—even she couldn’t predict how hot she would be in bed.”
“I’m not sure I’m going to write the book,” Trent blurted.
What sounded like a strangled gurgle came over the phone.
“What the hell do you mean you’re not going to write the book? Are you crazy? I’ve been talking with your editor, and it means a six-figure advance. I’m not going to let you throw this opportunity down the drain.”
“You don’t really have a say in the matter. Just remember, my name is the one on the contract, not yours.”
There was a brief pause.
“Trent, boy, now think about what you’re doing.” The tone of his voice changed, becoming silky. “You know I was just joking about the sex part. Remember why you started writing these books in the first place. Don’t let this chick scam you, too. I mean, yeah, she’s a looker. How do you think she’s able to take so many people in?”
Trent glanced around the yard of the hotel. Even unkempt there was something about it that tugged at him. If ever you could describe a place as peaceful tranquility, then sitting on the hotel porch would be exactly that. The rains last night had washed everything clean, and there was a fresh, earthy scent in the air.
